I know a .308 will do anything a 7mm.08 will do but will a 7mm.08 do everything a .308 will do? if you are trying to split hairs that is the question to ask.....If only for whitetails I'd probably go with the wife and son's caliber as I recently heard a Remington rep refer to the 7mm.08 and save the 200 smackers for some other toy like toward a brand new leupold 2.5-8x36 Matte maybe.......You can't make a bad choice here....Good luck.............547.